Kühn Tries His Luck with kraftwerk TUBES

Many German fuel cell fans are still angry at Sascha Kühn, mostly not because his company’s kraftwerk fuel cell charger has yet to be delivered but because Kühn has practically disappeared from the public eye. Months have passed since there was some kind of statement about if and how the original idea of manufacturing small high-temperature fuel cells with the help of crowdfunding could still be brought to market. Little is known about the company Kühn founded in the United States in 2016 following the bankruptcy of German-based eZelleron (see H2-international, August 2016). The same is true about the lawsuit filed against Kühn in early 2018 because of his late request for bankruptcy protection (see H2-international, April 2018).

In early December 2018, it came to light that Kühn was attempting a reset. In a letter H2-international received in reply to multiple requests for comment, his public relations agency Consilium Rechtskommunikation quotes Kühn as having said that he had obtained “a six-figure sum from Silicon Valley investors,” in an effort to resume operations in Dresden. His company in the United States, kraftwerk Inc., had started to focus on manufacturing “only kraftwerk’s core technology: the tubes.” These small tubular-shaped solid oxide fuel cells, made of nano-laminated metal, were said to be at the core of every kraftwerk device and would be capable of generating electric power from a variety of fuel sources.

Kühn is further quoted as having said that his company’s “customers have the expertise to incorporate our key technology into their products. kraftwerk has become an automotive supplier – nothing more, nothing less.” In the letter, it also said that “three automakers, including Nissan’s premium brand, Infiniti, have been working on kraftwerk cars to help transform the transportation sector.” Likewise, there was mention of a manufacturer of drones named Sky-Watch. Furthermore, production had begun at the company’s German subsidiary kraftwerk TUBES in November 2018. The subsidiary was established in October 2016 to succeed eZelleron tubes, set up in Dresden in May of the same year, around one month after the start of the eZelleron bankruptcy case.